Today was great! My cabin group is John Sour and Ryan Brooks. We woke up and got dressed in a good time but of course we were running a little late to the group down at the bottom of the hill. From there we went into a little hotel and met Casey and Andrea and they introduced themselves to us and we introduced ourselves to them. We were also given pretty nice sunblocking scuba shirts that say Jesuit Marine Biology and Dive BVI. We had a nice traditional breakfast and then we had about three hours learning and talking about different things like endangered species and keeping animals in captivity and if green logos actually influence the choices of customers when they go into stores. Finally, we talked about different fish identifications and played a game on it before lunch. After lunch, we suited up and got on a boat and did out first ocean dive. My partner for this week is Joseph Stautner and once we were briefed, we got in the water. The water was pretty chilly but once we got moving it wasn’t bad. Our maximum depth for today was 45 feet and when we first got in the water and descended, we did some view of different skills. Secondly in the water, we swam around and saw different fish and things we talked about earlier with Casey. Ryan Black pointed out a Moon Jelly and I got to touch it. It was so slimy. I was so happy to see something like that the first day. We went up a little chimney that was very narrow. Finally we ascended and got back to the boat. The island around where we dove was called Dog Island. The boat rides are really fun too. Last night when we were coming in on the boat there was some violent weather and I was sitting on the top of the boat and we were bobbing up and down and I got sprayed with salt water a couple times. Today riding back, the sun was just starting to go down and it was beautiful! We went back to out cabins and changed and went to mass. The Church was on top of a huge mountain with a breathtaking view. After mass, we went back to our cabins and changed for dinner. We walked down to a really nice beach and Casey and Andrea served us fantastic lasagna and vegetable pasta. All the guys played frisbee and played on the water. Matt Taylor and I just talked with Andrea and walked around the beach and talked. Finally, Doc Grunnnger talked to us about tomorrow and how to do this blog. After this I will buy some shampoo and sunscreen and turn in. It has been a fun first day and I hope the rest of this week goes as well and I’ll do my best to be sure it is!
Beach for dinner
View from Cabin
